~148~
- American press, giving them away might not make the spectacular impression on
Skeptical foreign statesmen that proponents promise,
Whether "tellingeali" would be a quixotic gesture or an act of sublime qisdom is, however, almost beside the point.
On one point alone has policy
crystallized to such an extent that it is wilikely to be affected by further
2nhols ¢
That has been on the necessity fan
ing "safeguards"
ey
public discussion,
—
before making revelations at least of engineering tedkntquos/in atomic energy
production.”
In his radio address of August 9, 1945, just after the first
announcement had been made of the new weapon, President Truman emphasized that.
"The atomic bomb is too dangerous to be loose in a lawless world.
That is why
Great Britain and the United States, who have the secret of its production, do
not intend to reveal the secret until means have been found to control the bomb
so as to protect ourselves and the rest of the world from the danger of total
destruction.’
Sion,
This sentiment has been reiterated in subsequent public discus~
Full revclation is clearly not politically feasible.
Insistence that secrecy must be preserved until "means have been found to
control the bomb" leads naturally, in the minds of those who believe that means
of international control of perfect efficacy will not be found, to the "do
nothing" course of action and to the abandonment even of the quest for common
international action.
been advocated,
There are two grounds upon which a do-nothing policy has
On the one hand, it is argued that the atomic age will be an
age of plenty, that there will be so much for everybody that no one will covet
93.
:
.
It has sometimes beon argued that the spirit of free scientific inquiry
demands that there be no restristion on the diffusion of basic scientific
knowledge, whatever policy is adopted regarding engineering processes and de=
tails of weapon construction. General Groves has indicated that data in certain
wide fields of basic research are soon to be "declassificd" and made generally
available. However, when asked what he meant by "basic knowledge," he’ is reported to have replied "that he thinks of basic lmowledge as that which either
is generally known or can be casily found out, The Army docs not intend to
keep secret from American students facts which are openly taught in schools
abroad,"
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists of Chicago, Décembor 2h, 1945, p. 2.